I'm a Swedish guy that has lived two years in Beijing and spend 4,5 year working and studying in Asia. This blog is about that time and also about getting back.
This blog has been about letting friends and family know what I'm up to. Perhaps even get to know me a little better.

Monday, August 30, 2004

Newspapers (Värnamo)

Today my interview was published in the local newspaper, "On the way to new adventures in China". It was half a page and a big colour picture. Not bad, except the rather silly title and the fact that most of what I said is pretty distorted. As a matter of fact, the article gives me a whole different impression then what I wanted to have said. An example. The article states:

"Still Johan Gustafsson wants to go back to China and he foresees two different scenarios for the country: crash or to become a superpower. He believes in the latter.
- Because people there have such strong drive and strong hope for the future."

What I actually said was that there is a lot of speculation going on and many scenarios for the country's development in the future, ranging from a complete crash to becoming a new superpower. I don't think I can speculate in any of this and I can't say that I have a complete picture. One thing that I do believe is that people have a very strong drive and really believe that they have a chance to have a better life. I think that as long as this hope lives the people in China will tolerate a lot of injustices and hardships. Not quite the same.

Since we talked for a whole hour the whole article kind of abruptly sums up some key points without much nuance. Guess it really is a skill to be able to talk to media and get your message through. I think she expected some sort of adventure travel, and had thought of writing it from that angle. But I kind of screwed it up by talking about other things, making the whole article really lacking some sort of direction.

My dad wanted me to go down to the paper's office and ask them for some more copies. I guess so he could give them to relatives or something. He cares a lot more than I do, which I find a little bit odd. I never got down to pick up any more copies though.